Please ensure your electrics are up to date!!!!!!!!!

zax47

dwarvenassassin wrote: »

Last I looked, this place was about advice, not pitching for work.

ETA: Post now gone - so our reply is irrelevant!

roddydogs

Could someone tell me why their are regulations re Fixed wiring, but none re Extension Cables........i could have, say 6 lots of Ext Cables running round the house........why is that not "Illegal"?

AdrianW2

roddydogs wrote: »

Could someone tell me why their are regulations re Fixed wiring, but none re Extension Cables........i could have, say 6 lots of Ext Cables running round the house........why is that not "Illegal"?

The regulations were introduced as an add-on to building regulations and therefore could be introduced without proper parliamentary debate but only "consultation" with those with a vested interest. The theory is that the fixed installation can protect you from a bodged portable appliances, hence the obsession with RCDs.

You'll also note that you are free to play with car batteries and run 1000A ELV network cabling.

gromituk

Fixed wiring is hidden; extension cables are visible and belong to you, not your property. When you buy a house, you are likely to be at risk from faulty wiring in that house, not from faulty extension leads which have been used in that house by someone else.

I wouldn't call RCDs an obsession; they are a very effective way of reducing the risk of electrocution (note: this means death from electric shock, not just an electric shock as the word is often misused to describe), and detecting certain faults (such as breakdown of insulation) which can lead to fires if left to develop. They also reduce the need for what some might describe as obsessive equipotential bonding!

Car batteries are an irrelevance: the average house isn't full of them.

dwarvenassassin

AdrianW2 wrote: »

The regulations were introduced as an add-on to building regulations.

Wrong. BS7671 (IEE Wiring Regulations) have been around in on form or another since 1882.
We are currently upto the 17th Edition.
Part P of the building regulations is a completely different issue.

roddydogs wrote: »

Could someone tell me why their are regulations re Fixed wiring, but none re Extension Cables

Apart from the fact that (as mentioned above) the extensions leads would be visible and easily maintainable, they are protected by a 13A fuse. It doesn't matter how much you plug into an extension lead, it is limited to a 13A supply.
Also, there ARE regulations covering extension leads re: their design and construction. There are even regulations covering their use in the workplace (your home is a workplace if someone is working there for any sort of "payment"). Breaching these regulations can be VERY EXPENSIVE!

gromituk

Unfortunately, extension leads which aren't capable of supplying 13A are also often protected by a 13A fuse! Having said that though, I know a lot of them have thermal cutouts which at least protect them to a certain extent when they have too much current draw when coiled up. I don't know if these cutouts also respond to overcurrent.

AdrianW2

dwarvenassassin wrote: »

Wrong. BS7671 (IEE Wiring Regulations) have been around in on form or another since 1882.
We are currently upto the 17th Edition.
Part P of the building regulations is a completely different issue.

roddydogs said "illegal" which, to me at least, implies he/she was referring to some form of legislation. As I've said before the IEE Wiring Regulations, despite being called regulations, are a standard and not regulations in a legal sense.

In the context of the original question, the regulations - i.e. The Building Regulations 2000 [as amended] - apply only to fixed installations.

I think, and I'm prepared to be corrected, that the Regulations don't actually require work to be completed to BS7671 in the same way that supply conditions pre-building control didn't. Which is strange when one of the stated intentions of the legislation was to stem the tide of professional electricians ignoring the standard.

Mary_Hartnell

Some people seem to have no understanding of electricity whatsoever.
I've twice been to "occasions" this year, where the people making the tea were surprised that an extension lead could not cope with "an urn and a kettle" and "three urns" respectively.

Nothing like a panic change of fuses when everyone is lining up for a cuppa.

gromituk

I've resorted to scrawling "light loads only - nothing with heaters" on one of my extension leads, after one too many changes of fuse!

techmax76

Excellent safety tips! Ensuring the safety of your house is very important because you can sleep calm that your family is protected from any harm.